BlazeVOX Books, often stylized as BlazeVOX ooks'', is an independent publisher founded by Geoffrey Gatza and based in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Since 2000, it has published more than 350 books of poetry and prose, most of which fall within the sphere of avant-garde literature. BlazeVOX Books also publishes ''BlazeVOX'', a biannual journal of poetry and prose founded in 1999. Authors published in ''BlazeVOX'' include

Louis Armand Louis François Armand (17 January 1905 – 30 August 1971) was a French engineer and senior civil servant who managed several public companies, as well as had a significant role in World War II as an officer in the Resistance. He became the f ...

, William James Austin,

George Bowering George Harry Bowering, (born December 1, 1935) is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He was the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, and raised in the nearby town o ...

Mitch Corber Mitch Corber is a New York City neo-Beat poet, an eccentric performance artist, and no wave videographer known for his rapid whimsically comical montage and collage style. He has been associated with Collaborative Projects, Inc. (aka Colab), par ...

Robert Creeley Robert White Creeley (May 21, 1926 – March 30, 2005) was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. He was close with Char ...

, Lily Hoang,

Lisa Jarnot Lisa Jarnot (born 1967) is an American poet. She was born in Buffalo, New York and studied literature at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In 1994 she received an MFA in creative writing from Brown University. She has lived in San Fra ...

Hank Lazer Hank Lazer (b. San Jose, California) is an American poet and critic who teaches at the University of Alabama. Biography Lazer received an A.B. in English from Stanford University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees the University of Virginia. He has been ...

, David Meltzer,

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. No ...

Ricardo Nazario y Colón Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...

Simon Perchik Simon Perchik (December 24, 1923 – June 14, 2022) was an American poet who has been described by Library Journal as, "the most widely published unknown poet in America." Perchik worked as an attorney before his retirement in 1980. Educated ...

Linda Ravenswood Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

Steve Roggenbuck Steve Roggenbuck (born November 11, 1987) is an American poet, blogger, and YouTuber. His works have gained notoriety and mild recognition for their reusing of motifs like typos, lack of punctuation, and exaggerated joy. In 2018, Roggenbuck was a ...

Keith Waldrop Keith Waldrop (born December 11, 1932, in Emporia, Kansas) is an American poet, translator, and academic. He has authored numerous books of poetry and prose and translated the work of Claude Royet-Journoud, Anne-Marie Albiach, and Edmond Jabès ...

Rosmarie Waldrop Rosmarie Waldrop (born Rosmarie Sebald; August 24, 1935) is an American poet, novelist, translator, essayist and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958 and has settled in Providence, Rhode Island since the late ...

Lewis Warsh Lewis Warsh (9 November 1944 – 15 November 2020) was an American poet, visual artist, professor, prose writer, editor, and publisher. He was a principal member of the second generation of the New York School poets,; however, he has said that � ...

, and Steven Zultanski.

Mission

According to the mission statement published by the press, BlazeVOX aims to "disseminate poetry, through print and digital media, both within academic spheres and to society at large," and, more broadly, to "push at the frontiers of what is possible." Its specific commitment, with respect to its sizable contemporary poetry list, is to "publish the innovative works of the greatest minds writing poetry today, from the most respected senior poets to extraordinarily promising young writers." BlazeVOX has also committed itself to publish works "regardless of commercial viability."

History

Both BlazeVOX Books and ''BlazeVox'' were founded at

Daemen College Daemen University is a private university in Amherst, New York and Brooklyn, New York. Formerly Daemen College and Rosary Hill College, the now-nondenominational school was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947. As of fall 2020, 2,536 s ...

Amherst, New York Amherst () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. The second ...

, where in 1999 Gatza began publishing an

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

exclusively online. The first issue of ''BlazeVOX'' appeared in the Fall of 2000, featuring work by

and Alan Sondheim, while the press's first four full-length collections—by

William Allegrezza William (Bill) Allegrezza (born 1974 in Jackson, Mississippi) is a poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He editMoria Booksand teaches at Indiana University Northwest. He has published eighteen poetry books; eleven chapbooks, including ' ...

, Raymond L. Bianchi, Patrick Herron, and Theodore Pelton—were published in 2004. By the end of 2005, BlazeVOX had already published full-length collections by Sondheim,

Kazim Ali Kazim Ali (born April 5, 1971) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and professor. His most recent books are ''Inquisition'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) and ''All One's Blue'' (Harper Collins India, 2016). His honors include an Individua ...

Michael Kelleher Michael Kelleher is an American poet. He is the author of four collections of poems, ''Visible Instruments'' (Chax Press, 2017), ''Museum Hours'' (BlazeVOX Books, 2016) ''Human Scale'' (BlazeVOX Books, 2007) and ''To Be Sung'' (BlazeVOX Books, 200 ...

, and Amy King, whose ''Antidotes for an Alibi'' would be a finalist for the 2006 Lambda Literary Award. BlazeVOX began publishing approximately five books of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

annually in 2006, and one book of

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

per year starting in 2010. Since 2002, BlazeVOX has featured online recordings of its authors on its website, a practice that in recent years has manifested in a semi-regular

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. Poets and writers featured in these recordings and podcasts include

Forrest Gander Forrest Gander (born 1956) is an American poet, translator, essayist, and novelist. The A.K. Seaver Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts & Comparative Literature at Brown University, Gander won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2019 for ''Be With' ...

, and

. Since 2010, BlazeVOX has also offered a small selection of free

eBooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

on its website, as well as Kindle editions of many of its titles. Every edition of ''BlazeVOX'' since 2006 has featured an extended selection of poems from one author native to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, where the headquarters of the press is located. Authors selected for this feature, entitled ''Buffalo Focus'' (stylized as "buffaloFOCUS"), include Nava Fader, Kevin Thurston, and Clarice Waldman. In 2016, BlazeVOX author

Daniel Borzutzky Daniel Borzutzky is a Chicago-based poet and translator. His collection ''The Performance of Becoming Human'' won the 2016 National Book Award. The son of Chilean immigrants, Borzutzky's work often addresses immigration, worker exploitation, pol ...

won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for ''The Performance of Becoming Human'', published by

Brooklyn Arts Press Brooklyn Arts Press (BAP) is an independent publisher of poetry, literary fiction, non-fiction, art books, and music. The company was founded in 2007 by writer Joe Pan (formerly Joe Millar) in Brooklyn, New York.

Reception

Artvoice ''Artvoice'' is an American web based publication covering arts, business, and general editorial news nationally and internationally. Artvoice began in Buffalo, New York, in 1990 as a free weekly print publication with a 65,000 circulation. ''Artv ...

'' notes that "many books by BlazeVox have received national acclaim," while '' Coal Hill Review'' has observed that "BlazeVOX poetry collections tend to have three things in common: physically, they tend to be oversized and very attractive; stylistically, they tend to be experimental; and quality-wise, they tend to be strong." ''Drunken Boat'', an international journal of literature and the arts, credits BlazeVOX Books with offering its readers "an eclectic mix of today's experimental voices." Among other honors, books published by BlazeVOX have been short-listed for the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

, anthologized in large-scale university-press compilations such as ''Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing'' (

Northwestern University Press Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticism ...

, 2011), and reviewed in major venues such as ''Jacket2'' and the website of the

Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

series."First Book Review: Leah Umansky's ''Domestic Uncertainties'' (2/25/2014). http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2014/02/first-book-review-leah-umanskys-domestic-uncertainties.html

Authors

Poets and writers with poetry or prose collections on BlazeVOX Books include: *

Seth Abramson Seth Abramson (born October 31, 1976) is an American professor, attorney, author, political columnist, and poet. He is the editor of the ''Best American Experimental Writing'' series and wrote a bestselling trilogy of nonfiction works detailing t ...

* Joe Amato * Aaron Apps * Michael Basinski * Martine Bellen * Aaron Belz *

Bill Berkson William Craig Berkson (August 30, 1939 – June 16, 2016) was an American poet, critic, and teacher who was active in the art and literary worlds from his early twenties on. Early life and education Born in New York City on August 30, 1939, Bil ...

* Tom Bradley *

Ron Burch Ron Burch is an American writer whose work spans television, film, plays, short fiction and novels. His movies include '' Head over Heels'', '' Yours, Mine and Ours'' and ''Ferdinand''. He was the executive producer/showrunner (along with David Kid ...

Patrick Chapman Patrick Chapman (born 1968) is an Irish poet, writer and screenwriter. Chapman's first published work was ''Jazztown'', released in 1991 by Raven Arts Press. This was followed five years later by ''The New Pornography'', a collection of poems ...

* Cris Cheek * Tom Clark *

Jesse Damiani Jesse Damiani (born 1989) is an American writer, producer, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his association with virtual reality, augmented reality, and new media art. He is a Forbes Contributor covering emerging technologies. Early life a ...

Alberto de Lacerda Carlos Alberto Portugal Correia de Lacerda (September 20, 1928 – August 27, 2007) was a Portuguese poet and BBC Radio Presenter. Biography Alberto de Lacerda was born in Mozambique in 1928. In 1946, Lacerda moved to Lisbon. In 1951, he began ...

* Jennifer K. Dick * Robert Duncan *

Rachel Blau DuPlessis Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born December 14, 1941) is an American poet and essayist, known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. Her work has been widely anthologized. Early life DuPlessis w ...

* Kari Edwards *

Clayton Eshleman Clayton Eshleman (June 1, 1935 – January 29/30, 2021) was an American poet, translator, and editor, noted in particular for his translations of César Vallejo and his studies of cave painting and the Paleolithic imagination. Eshleman's work has ...

* Andrew Farkas * Michael Farrell *

Raymond Federman Raymond Federman (May 15, 1928 – October 6, 2009) was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was app ...

Jeanpaul Ferro Jéanpaul Ferro (born January 26, 1967, in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American writer of poetry, novels, and short stories, whose works incorporate philosophical, social-political, and topical conventions. An 8-time Pushcart Prize nominee, ...

Gloria Frym Gloria Frym is an American poet, fiction writer, and essayist. __TOC__ Biography Gloria Frym was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Los Angeles. She also lived in New Mexico for many years. She earned her MA and BA degrees at the Univers ...

* John Gallaher * Robert Gibbons * Jesse Glass *

Noah Eli Gordon Noah Eli Gordon (1975 – July 10, 2022) was an American poet, editor, and publisher. Overview Gordon was the co-publisher of Letter Machine Editions, an editor for ''The Volta'', and an assistant professor in the MFA program in creative writing a ...

* Matt Hart *

Bobbie Louise Hawkins Bobbie Louise Hawkins (July 11, 1930 – May 4, 2018) was a short story writer, monologist, and poet. Life Hawkins was born in Abilene in west Texas, to a teenage mother. She was raised by her mother Nora Hall and her stepfather Harold Hall, wit ...

Barbara Henning Barbara Henning (born October 26, 1948) is an American poet and fiction writer. She is the author of eight books of poetry, four novels and a series of photo-poem pamphlets. Her recent novelized biography of her mother, ''Ferne, a Detroit Story, ...

* Bruce Jackson *

Kent Johnson Kent Johnson (1955 – October 25, 2022) was an American poet, translator, critic, and anthologist. His work, much of it meta-fictional and/or satirical in approach, has provoked a notable measure of controversy and debate within English-languag ...

* Jane Joritz-Nakagawa *

Andrew Joron Andrew Joron (born March 6, 1955) is an American writer of Experimental literature, experimental poetry, speculative fiction, and lyrical and critical essays. He began by writing science fiction poetry. Joron's later poetry, combining scientific a ...

* Michael Joyce * Vincent Katz *

Kevin Killian Kevin Killian (December 24, 1952 – June 15, 2019) was an American poet, author, editor, and playwright primarily of LGBT literature. ''My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer'', which he co-edited with Peter Gizzi, wo ...

Burt Kimmelman Burt Joseph Kimmelman (born May 5, 1947) is an American poet and scholar. Life and work Born and raised in New York City after World War Two, Burt Kimmelman has published eleven collections of poetry. His poetry is often anthologized and was featu ...

* Amy King * Linda King * John Kinsella *

Rodney Koeneke Rodney Koeneke (born September 12, 1968) is an American poet. Life and career Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Koeneke was raised in Tucson, Arizona and Hacienda Heights, California. He graduated with a BA iHistoryfrom the University of California, Berk ...

* Krystal Languell * Evan Lavender-Smith * David Dodd Lee *

Masiela Lusha Masiela Lusha (; born October 23, 1985) is an Albanian-born American actress and author. She gained recognition for playing Carmen Lopez on the globally syndicated ABC sitcom ''George Lopez'', a role that earned her two consecutive Young Artist ...

Michael Magee Michael Magee (October 11, 1929 – July 15, 2011) was a Canadians, Canadian actor, singer and author. He was known for voicing Cyril Sneer and his pet half dog/half aardvark Snag in the Canadian animated series ''The Raccoons'' and the voice for T ...

* John Matthias *

Cris Mazza Cris Mazza (born 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, and non-fiction author. Early life and education A native of Southern California, Mazza earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from San Diego State University and ...

Gillian McCain Gillian McCain (born January 1, 1966) is a Canadian poet, author, and photography collector best known for ''Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk'', which she co-wrote with Legs McNeil. McCain is the author of two books of poetry: '' ...

Deborah Meadows Deborah Meadows (born 1956) is an American poet and playwright and essayist. Life Meadows has published more than ten books of poetry, as well as essays, plays, and lithographs. She was nominated for Los Angeles Poet Laureate in 2014. From a w ...

* Corey Mesler * Peter Money *

Simone Muench Simone Muench is an American poet and a professor of creative writing and film studies. She was raised in the small town of Benson, Louisiana and also Arkansas.Chicago Magazine, July 200Chicago Magazine/ref> She completed her bachelor's and mast ...

Sheila Murphy Sheila E. Murphy (born 1951 in Mishawaka, Indiana) is an American text and visual poet who has been writing and publishing since 1978. She is the recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for her book ''Letters to Unfinished J''. Green Integer Press ...

Daniel Nester Daniel Murlin Nester (born February 29, 1968, in Portsmouth, Virginia) is an American writer, editor, and poet. Biography Nester was raised in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey. He attended high school at Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hi ...

Urayoán Noel Urayoán Noel is a translator, poet, and critic who is the author of poetry collections, poetry criticism and books. He has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Howard Foundation, and CantoMundo (whe ...

* Cheryl Pallant *

Ted Pearson Ted Pearson (born 1948 in Palo Alto, California) is an American poet. He is often associated with the Language poets. Life and work Pearson was born in 1948 in Palo Alto, California. He began studying liturgical music in 1960, instrumental music ...

* Michelle Naka Pierce * Stephen Ratcliffe *

Elizabeth Robinson Elizabeth Robinson (born 1961, Denver, Colorado) is an American poet and professor, author of twelve collections of poetry, most recently ''Counterpart'' (Ahsahta Press, 2012), "Three Novels" (Omnidawn, 2011) "Also Known A," (Apogee, 2009), and ...

Kit Robinson Kit Robinson (born May 17, 1949) is an American poet, translator, writer and musician. An early member of the San Francisco Language poets circle, he has published 28 books of poetry. Life and work Born in Evanston, Illinois, Robinson graduated ...

Tomaž Šalamun Tomaž Šalamun (July 4, 1941 – December 27, 2014) was a Slovenian poet who was a leading figure of postwar neo-avant-garde poetry in Central EuropeColm Tóibín (2004The comet's trail Guardian and an internationally acclaimed absurdist. Martín ...

George Schneeman George Schneeman (March 11, 1934 – January 27, 2009) was an American painter who lived in Tuscany, Italy, and New York City. Life and work George Schneeman was born on March 11, 1934, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received a B.A. in philosoph ...

Davis Schneiderman Davis Schneiderman (born 1974) is an American writer, academic, and higher-education administrator. He is a professor of English and Krebs Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Lake Forest College in Illinois. Prior to that appointment, he served as ...

* Steven D. Schroeder *

Larissa Shmailo Larissa Shmailo (born 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American poet, translator, novelist, editor, and critic. She is known for her literary translations from Russian to English, particularly her translation of '' Victory over the ...

* Dale Smith * Alan Sondheim * Jordan Stempleman * Chad Sweeney *

Eileen Tabios Eileen Tabios (born 1960) is a Filipino-American poet, fiction writer, conceptual/visual artist, editor, anthologist, critic, and publisher. Early life Born in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, Tabios moved to the United States at the age of ten. ...

Anne Tardos Anne Tardos is a French-born American poet, visual artist, academic, and composer. Early life and education Tardos was born in Cannes, France. As a child, she lived in German-occupied Paris, later moving with her parents to Budapest, where she l ...

John Tranter John Ernest Tranter (born 29 April 1943) is an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He has published more than twenty books of poetry; devising, with Jan Garrett, the long running ABC radio program ''Books and Writing''; and founding in 1997 ...

David Trinidad David Trinidad (born 1953 in Los Angeles, California) is an American poet. David Trinidad was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the San Fernando Valley. He attended California State University, Northridge, where he studied poetry wi ...

Lawrence Upton Lawrence Upton (born London 1949, of Cornish origins, died at home 16 February 2020), was a poet, graphic artist and sound artist, and director of ''Writers Forum''. Upton was a performer, continuing and expanding the performance tradition of, ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

BlazeVOX Books
Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Culture of Buffalo, New York Small press publishing companies Publishing companies established in 2000 Companies based in Buffalo, New York